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Mighty Empires

Mighty Empires
Manufacturer(s) Games Workshop
Designer(s) Rick Priestley, Nigel Stillman
Publisher(s) Games Workshop
Years active 1990
Players 2-3
Random chance Dice rolling

Mighty Empires was a board game published by Games Workshop. It was intended to add a strategic layer to Warhammer Fantasy Battle giving rise to campaigns where the results of one battle would affect later battles, although the game included simple point based rules if the players did not have Warhammer Fantasy Battle or were unwilling to play out each battle.

With the integration with Warhammer Fantasy Battle, the game very much resembled the Total War computer game series.

Prior to starting, the game map has to be assembled. The board consists of separate map hexagons representing coastal, highland and plains terrain, which are to be placed together to form a unique playing field. There are specific rules as to how the map tiles can be placed in order to maintain a sense of realism about the geography. For example, a river should continue until it terminates in a coastal, lake or swamp tile, rather than terminating abruptly by a blocking mountain or plains tile.

Players then chose starting positions (certain map hexes are designated as "capital spots") and then roll a six-sided die to see what settlements already exist in the map hexes immediately surrounding their capital.

The points worth of starting armies are then determined, either randomly (a number of dice rolled according to the number of settlements in that player's realm) or based on the players' available models. These are then divided into army banners and placed anywhere in the player's realm.

Play is then commenced.

Each year was split into the spring equinox, 6 summer months, autumn equinox and winter.

Spells could be cast during the equinoxes which could have significant effects on the campaign season. The spells available between the spring and autumn equinoxes differ.

During each summer month, the active player first calculates subsistence costs for each army. Subsistence represents the food and supplies an army would require and can be taken by foraging from the currently occupied map tile. Any shortfall must be made by baggage the army carries, else it can suffer troop loss.

Each army then scouted in the direction they wished to move to. If the tile was unexplored, the contents of the tile was determined by rolling on tile type specific scouting charts. Depending on the results, the army could encounter a friendly settlement, an independent settlement, nothing at all or a random event.
In the case of a settlement, it was permanently added to the map by placing the appropriate piece in the tile.


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